Avery eyes roved over Valentina’s body, not because she was interested in the pretty clothes the latter was decked out in but because she needed to pretend. Pretend she was fascinated by Valentina, her beauty, her position and everything about her.
Valentina was gullible. She had always been, but Avery had never noticed it. Who would ever want to think of soone they regarded to be their beloved cousin, as gullible? But thinking back now, there had been so many signs but she had simply chose to ignore it.
Now, she was ready to exploit that particular weakness.
She tried to feign fascination, cupping her palms over her mouth as if to hide her shock as her eyes went from Valentina’s yellow sundress, to the black designer belt around her waist, and down to the pretty black sandals.
"She’s pretty!"
"Omg, she’s really does fit the role as Bridgette!"
"No one would look better in those clothes than she does!"
Avery joined the side actresses and extras who were whispering praises of Valentina, her lips curved into a fake smile as she said,
"She’s really competing with the idol I hold in my heart."
Silence. One second...two seconds...and three.
Valentina turned her head to look in Avery’s direction. The displeasure that had been in her eyes when she saw her earlier had now disappeared, replaced with a confused one.
"You...you are the Ava Donovan, aren’t you?" she asked.
Avery nodded eagerly in reply, even though it was more than obvious Valentina already knew the answer.
"You don’t look too bad yourself. It’s just that prettier one wins the man, and that’s ," she laughed. "I’m talking about the movie of course."
"Yeah, totally." Avery forced a reciprocating laugh which gradually turned real when she saw the small smile on Valentina’s lips as she turned to leave.
Her plan was successful. Today was a productive day and she could finally stop beating herself up for being totally idle for the past two weeks.
"Let’s go," Jodi’s hand slipped into hers, "You know you are weird right, Ava?"
"How?" Avery questioned. She tightened her hand around Jodi’s as they both stepped out after the others, taking their ti to walk down to where the props were set.
"Valentina McCAllum insulted you in the presence of so many people but you were literally complinting her in the next minute. Look at that, she was still so smug about it."
"And that’s why I’m weird?" Avery chuckled.
"Totally! I bet others are thinking you are trying to suck up to her. I’d have thought that too if I didn’t know you don’t need her," Jodi replied.
"Really? Was that what it looked like; that I am trying to suck up to her?"
"I wouldn’t lie about that, would I...?"
Jodi continued speaking but Avery gradually tuned out her voice, burying herself in a pile of thoughts. If as Jodi said, everyone had really thought she was trying to suck up to Valentina, then it ant Valentina also had that sa thought, right?
That would be great.
Her first stunt had worked in two positive ways and the second one too! Could she be any more lucky?! Excitent gradually building in her mind, she racked her brain for a way to offload it before exploding, and only one thought ca to her mind.
Tell Archie.
Without hesitating, she lifted her phone and turned to Jodi.
"I’ll pick a call real quick and join you soon," she excused herself. Extricating her hand, she strayed off from the orderly line they had been moving in, and took a short stroll towards the beach.
Her hand hovered between the call app and ssages app, wondering which one to contact him by. Five seconds of deliberation later, she decided to text him instead.
[Played Valentina in multiple ways today, and each yielded two results!]
She clicked on the send button and switched off the phone imdiately. If he was interested in knowing more, he’d ask.
As she walked back to join the others—even after she had switched off the phone—she continued drafting the ssage she would reply with, if Archie ended up answering.
The first stunt in the dressing tent had affected the way so of the other crew and cast mbers viewed Valentina. The facade she always wore, one that enhanced her pretence as the innocent replacent of Emma McCAllum, had been cracked a little with that stunt.
And at the sa ti, it had made Valentina think the girl nad Ava Donovan was really spineless and a loser, for her to have been so sad just because an actress ranking higher than her in position, stared at her with displeasure in her eyes.
The second stunt where she had intentionally whispered about how Valentina was slowly becoming the idol in her heart had also yielded two results. The first one being that everyone thought she was nice, albeit a loser, for being able to complint Valentina after what happened earlier.
Judging by Valentina’s small smile at the ti, Avery could guess that the complint had also prompted her proud cousin to reduce the animosity and suspicions she held for her. What was better was the fact that Valentina probably thought she was trying to suck up to her, to gain her favor and get under her wings.
’She seeks validation for herself by tramping on and bossing people around,’ Avery thought, certain that Valentina would definitely be more than willing to have her as a subordinate. ’It’s her lifelong wish to boss around Avery McCallum after all. And if she can’t get that, she’d want to settle with soone with the sa face.’
She broke into a sprint, her bare feet pushing through the sand to propel her movent forward. Leroy was already giving instructions to the extras and everyone was dispersing to their respective positions.
There in the middle of the ruckus, Jodi stood there, her blonde hair dancing in the wind behind her as she listened attentively to whatever Leroy was saying.
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